The First Half of January

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I am tired. I have been so busy running around and not doing anything extraordinarily Chinese that I haven’t had a chance to update. Plus, my school computer (the one connected to the internet) caught itself a little virus; I’ve been without internet for 2 weekends in a row. And both weekends I had planned to blog in the evening after I got home and everything was closed. It’s relaxing and helps me sort through everything in my head.

It’s now 2009. Where did the time go? It seems like it was just yesterday that I was doing… complete that any way you choose. Working in a job I didn’t like, going dancing every weekend, complaining about snow, waiting for my life to start. And here I am. It’s 2009. And for the first time ever, I’m not writing the incorrect date on checks.

So, it’s time for a rundown of some of the more interesting things I've done the first half of the month:

January 1, 2009 should be fairly self-explanatory. I relaxed, ate well, watched others suffer from the night before. I bought some more incense. Indian again and a Chinese one. I wonder how much I’ll buy in India.
Roy left for Australia for the next month. I miss him already.

Friday, Jan 2:
Started out the day by sleeping in. Here, the 1st through the 3rd is a holiday (and classes started again on Sunday the 4th). Carrie and I then went to get our hair washed. She knows of a salon where if you go before 2pm it’s discounted. A hari wash, as I’ve described before, isn’t just a hair wash. They shampoo, massage, shampoo again (or condition—I was so relaxed I wasn’t paying attention), massage some more, condition, massage massage massage, rinse. Then they clean out your ears (this still freaks me out a little) and I always feel like my ears are filthy since they spend about 2 minutes per ear. Then they go to work on your shoulders, arms, hands, and fingers. And just when you think your already comatose self can’t take any more relaxation, they tell you something you don’t understand until you look over and see your friend on their stomach and it registers that they want you to flip over so they can massage your back and shoulders some more.
After all of that you manage to get yourself upstairs so they can blow-dry and style your hair. And then you leave feeling like you can take on the world, eat an amazing meal, and get asked out on a date all within the next 5 mintues.

So we tackled cream puffs and Carrie’s mom made me vegetarian pot stickers. 2 out of 3 aint’ bad.

That night I went to a party. The people I play games (yes, I do deviate from mahjong on occasion) on Thursday nights are all involved in an organization called Prep U. Prep U helps high school and I think college students prepare to study abroad. So the party was a few foreigners and a lot of Chinese people. There were some middle school students who street danced for us (or as I still call it, break danced), we played games, ate, danced, etc. Kevin sang for us, too. I knew he played piano but had no idea he could sing, much less so well! I had heard a rumor he was singing and I had expected that there would be KTV (karaoke TV). But no. Instead we were treated to performance in Italian. I was thoroughly impressed.

Saturday, January 3, 2009:
I got together with my German (Mr. M) friend for one last time. His girlfriend (Ms. M) flew in, too, so I got to meet her. They have since left for Hong Kong and Macau and are heading back to Germany next week. We have decided to keep in touch.

I treated them to Dairy Queen. DQ is from my hometown and I decided it would be a much better birthday present than a bottle of Chinese liquor. They were both thoroughly impressed with their Blizzards.

We then proceeded to the Children’s museum. Mr. M had been there previously scoping it out for her visit and said it was prtty cool. And it was.
After look at all the exhibits on the main floor, we went downstairs and were trying ot figure out how to get in to one exhibit and how much it cost or if it was free. We like free. A very nice Chinese lady came over and helped us, telling us that it was in fact free bu we still needed to get tickets. So wee got in line.
Well, to the nice lady’s horror, only children get in free, not adults. But in order to please the foreign visitors they let us in free anyway. And then gave us our own tour guide to help us with anything we wanted and to start the video games for us. We played racing games, hang gliding games, fighter helicopter games, and there was even a virtual volleyball game.

We then watched a pretty dull movie (ok, it was designed for kids) but we did get to sit on seats that resembled a keyboard. Each seat was a button. I wanted to sit on K, but it was too far back.
We then watched a robot band play songs. Whatever we wanted to hear, we got it. Oddly, Mr. and Ms. M were not familiar with Edelweiss (from The Sound of Music).

After that we were ushered into a NASA space area where we got to play in an astronaut simulator, watch a 3D movie (that we couldn’t understand, so we spent the whole time trying to not giggle), and then we got to shoot at aliens. They lined all of us up (we were now grouped with a large group of Chinese people and their children) and the aliens appeared on 2 big projection screens. We got to shoot at them with guns as big as me that actually moved back and forth like a machine gun does in the movies. And when we’d destroyed all the aliens and their spaceships, a giant alien emerged from the ground in front of us and we all shot at it. With our good team effort we were able to defeat him without too much difficulty. Oddly, though, we 3 got the highest scores and we’re not the ones getting mandatory military training.
As we started to file out, Mr. M asked if we could do it again. They let us, just the 3 of us. And we all racked up scores of over 20,000. Yep, the foreigners came to China to save the world from aliens.

I left them around 4pm. They wanted to check out LianHua Shan park (the kite flying park) before it got dark. I had dinner plans to go to a fellow English teacher’s home. She lives with her husband and son and her parents. They made me a seafood hotpot. I have now learned how to deshell a shrimp using a chopstick. Her husband also made turtle. Her logic was that since I eat seafood and the turtle came from the sea I could eat it. That could be argued for a lot of things I don’t want ot eat, like the boots you always see on fishing lines in comic strips. I didn’t point this out to her.
I did try the turtle, but only a little bit—I didn’t want to really upset my digestive system if her theory was wrong. It was actually pretty tasty, though I attribute that more to the preparation methods than the fact that it was turtle. And no, it did not taste like chicken.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009:
The plan was simple. Send money home via Western Union and then go take my Chinese final. And as you've probably already guessed, simple did not happen.

It started out well. I went to my bank, got the money, and was even able to convert it to US dollars. I had been told by many people that only Bank of China could do that and it would take hours because of the red tape. I was out of my bank in half an hour.

We get to the bank that does WU and my story goes downhill. After waiting in line for 15 mn (they only had 2 windows of 4 open) we fill out the paperwork and then after a few more minutes are told that AZ will not allow me to sent that much money. You can only send $450 a week to AZ. Now, considering one of my friends here sent home over $2000 the week prior (to a different state), you can imagine how thrilled I was with this bit of news.
So, since I don't want to take multiple weeks to send money home, oh, wait, I can't, I'm going to India, and I don't want to drag Carrie through this again, I decide to suck it up and wire it. Extra fees be damned, I just want this to be over with.
It is at about this point that some man behind me starts yelling really loudly, I of course think he's yelling at me, and he keeps yelling and yelling, and I nearly start to cry.

We are then ushered into the VIP area (oh, boy...) and are surrounded by bank managers. 3 of them.

We fill out more paperwork. They don't ask for my routing number. I am terrified they will get it wrong. They don't know what a routing number is. I call my bank in the States. I get more info than they ask for. Something still doesn't seem right. I call my bank again, on the verge of tears. Again. I am so frustrated I just wanted to scream and punch someone. (This is not normal for me.) Thanks to Billie Jo at the phone bank, who cracks the China joke I really want to but can't (since they can hear me), the world is safe a bit longer and I calm down. Bless you, wherever you are.

So, after multiple attempts at filling out the paperwork, a few times of me stopping and counting to 5 so I woudln't blow up, and paying 2x as many fees, we were told the money would be sent and should be there in 2 to 3 days.
God, I hope so.

So we leave, 2 hours later, me still sick to my stomach, and return to school. I dont' feel like eating and I can't focus enough to study for my test.

I get to class and everyone is waiting outside (as usual) studying for tests, or in some cases, finding out they have one. (Way to read that syllabus!) I'm telling one of my friends about my adventures in banking and I can see Fearless Leader next to her listening in. He agrees that AZ's law is dumb. I can come up with reasons why they would have it, but still, it's stupid.
I then proceed to tell her how I wired it instead and can see FL shaking his head NONONONONONO behind her. "What?" I ask. I know most people use WU intead of wiring, but I always assumed it was because of the fees. "No wire has ever made it that I know of. They don't know how to do it right."
"What do I do if the money doens't make it?" This seems like a logical question to me.
"I don't know, Kris," he replied crossly, "I'm not the bank."
Now, ready to puke and cry at the same time, I embark to take my final, positive that 2 months salary has gone the way of my luggage.


The final went. Thankfully I had studied sentence structures to death. I have no idea what I wrote down or what the words were for all of them, but I knew roughly what was being said and managed to give BS answers that will satisfy my teacher. And she said she might award extra points to those of use who used characters for most of the test.


As of right now, I have no idea my grade on the final. But my money did make it. Most of it. $17 is lost forever. China says the US took it, US says China took it, I decided I don't have the time or energy to deal with it before I leave.


Saturday, Januaray 10, 2009:
Had plans to spend time with Bart, but ended up getting a call from Tyler instead. He is now engaged. We 3 (he, his fiance, and I) wandered around and did some shopping before taking a side trip into a tradiditonal Chinese furniture store. It was like stepping in a museum. Except that no alarms went off when I wanted to look at something. And I could actually sit on the furniture. It was like my dream come true. The furniture, even though it is all made out of wood, is surprisingly comfortable. And oh, so beautiful. And oh, so expensive. I must win the lottery.

We 3 ran into Bart and the girl he's dating. Tyler and his fiance left to go see her family and Bart, his girlfriend, and I got jian bing for lunch and wandered around. It was really windy and the cold just went through my clothing. We stopped at various boothes set up for the New Year (Jan 26) and then went and got coffee to warm up. I think Bart's girlfriend was bored. She speaks English, and according to him talks all the time, but she barely uttered a word. She even pulled out a book at one point while he and I were drinking our coffee. I actually felt bad for her. But on the other hand, I didn't even know she was coming with and Bart and I hadn't caught up in months.
After dinner we went to Jusco and bought various kinds of beer (Pearl Delta, for example) and then took them back to my school, to my rooftop "beer" garden. The moon was full and bright and it was a beautiful way to spend the evening.



Yesterday I went backpack shopping, convinced I needed a bigger one for my 3 week trip. My friend said I don't (we looked at ones that are about the same size) and if I thought I did I should re-evaluate what I'm taking. Hostels have laundry facilities. And besides, who wants to check baggage if you don't have to?
So today I did a trial run with most of the stuff I'm taking (I have yet to pack my camera and iPod charger) and I have space left over in my bag. I am thrilled. I'm not planning to buy a lot of stuff, much less bulky stuff (since I have to carry it around for 3 weeks), but it is nice to know I have some space to work with.

Tomorrow, more trip planning and the theatre. And sleep. Friday comes soon. Though I haven't figured out a plan yet (since my pics will be on my camera till I return to Shenzhen, and I hate publishing without them), next time you hear from me, I'll be somewhere in India!

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Photos

I love the costume
I had to get my picture taken with him. I think the hat is fantastic!

All of us
Or as many of us fit into this frame.

Mr .M and Ms. M
Note the awesome keyboard seats.

Astronaut space walk
This one was actually pretty hard to do.

Comments

[Renee]

Wishing you fun ...
Hope you have fun in India ... remember to be safe (sounds like your parents huh ... sorry!). Looking forward to hearing about it.